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University of California, Hastings College of the Law UC Hastings Scholarship Repository Formation of the National News Council Judicial Ethics and the National News Council 8-1973 The aN tional News Council's News Clippings, 1973 August- 1973 September The aN tional News Council, Inc. Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.uchastings.edu/nnc Recommended Citation The aN tional News Council, Inc., The National News Council's News Clippings, 1973 August- 1973 September (1973). Available at: http://repository.uchastings.edu/nnc/168 This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Judicial Ethics and the National News Council at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Formation of the National News Council by an authorized administrator of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 197J 19 By lORN I. O'CONNOR TelevisIon NE of the more significant con­ are received. The letter concluded that tuted "a controversial Issue ext public In three ·centralized conduits? If the frontations currently taking place "in our view there is no~hing contro­ importance," networks do distort, however uninten­ Oin the television arena involves versial or debatable in the proposition Getting no response from the net­ tionally, who will force them to clarify? the case of Accuracy in Media, that nat aU pensions meet the expecta­ work that it considered acceptable, AIM In any journalism, given the pressure Inc., a nonprofit, self-appointed "watch­ tions' of employes or serve all persons took its case to the FCC, and last of deadlines, mistakes are inevitable. dog" of the electronic and print press, with equity." May the commission staff ruled that Newpapers and magazines can ron versus the Nation~l Broadc;tsting Com­ The NBC stance, however, was NBC did violate the fairness doctrine "correction boxes" or "amplifications" pany. At issue is~h!...-cont~t) orfcover­ more than a bit ingenuous. If the sta­ and the staff observed that "you indi­ in letters to the editor columns. So far all thrus'!> of an hour-long documentary tistics being propounded by AIM indi­ cate no definite plans for future pro­ TV journalism hasn't fully . developed entitled"Pensions: 1'he Broken Promise," cilted that more than 90 per cent of graming which might present contrast­ similar mechanisms. presented on the network a year ago current pension plans were operating ing views," The network then decided Meantime, 'the questions multiply, last Wednesday. flawlessly, the NBC ~prqgra.m stronglyl to appeal the staff ruling to the fun even within the industry. Recentl the Generally praised by the critics, and implied that 90 per renrwere fail~res. commission and, as this column was ational Broadcast Edit' la- subsequently given a Peabody Award, tio & three- committee on the . program . offered a ' hard-hitting, . - m ormation. The committee s sharply critical look at pension plans first task was to compile a report oil in the United States. It concluded that AII~ s Fair in Love NBC's pensions program. The result, "it is almost inconceivable that tllis not unpredictably, was not one but two enormous thil1lg [a system of pensions] reports. has ' been allowed to groW up with so , The "majority" report, endorsed by little understanding of it and with so • And War, Maybe, But Robert Schulman of WHAS in Louis­ little protection and such uneven re­ ville and Dillon Smith of WMAQ in sults for those involved." Chicago, conceded that "responsible Accuracy in Media (AIM), for one, Not in TV Reporting journalism should place shocking dis­ saw the NBC news picture as gro­ closures properly within the context o·f tesquely distorted," and in November what is 'working rights'," and that thf,' charged, in a letter to Julian Goodman. The tItle was, "Pensions: The Broken being written, that Is where the matter NBC program "~ president of NBC,. that the entire pen­ Promise," not "Pensions: Broken Pro.m­ rested. If the fulI commission rebuffs ~ubordi im- sions picture was considerably more ises." NBC, the network plans to ·go to the positive and the program was "ip vio­ In . establishing the over-all context courts fOT what it thinks could involve , . lation of the requirement of the fairness of the program, the network noted that a "landmark case." Btrt, It adds, "we believe ..• that for doctrine because it fails to give both the narrator, Edwin Newman, said: Why? If NBC can · back up i,ts doc­ such delicate questions of documen- sides of a oontroversial issue of· public "This has been a depressing program umentary, why doesn't the network . tary program content to lbe evaluated importance." to work on, But we don't want to give simply argue it out on the air with the by the FCC would indeed drastically Before going further, it should be the impression that there are no good critics? It's not necessary to present inhibit b roadcastin~ elercise of gutsy stressed that the fairness doctrine has private pension plans. There are many another, "more positive" documentary. jo~alism . " . '.. nothing to do with demands for "~ good ones. And there are many people The early-morning "Today" show can .,.-ne---«minority" report, however, time," a consideration generally applied for whom the promise has become be, as it often is, used as a forum for signed by Robert Hughes of .WPIX in to poli~ai&nlng. In the lan­ reality." For one thing, how much is contrasting views. But the network con­ New York, concluded: .' guage Of the Feoeral Communications many? For another, the remark was tends it does no.t want to be put in a\ "The broadcaster, more than any Commission, the fairness doctrine sim­ made very near the end of the program, position of ~ing in tQ,.Eessure from other single part of the communica­ ply "obligates a broadcaster presenting and even the most naive student of any individua or group that might tions complex, must think of himself one side · of a controversia:l issue of documentary techruiques realizes that , object to a program, as a conduit for increasing the under­ public importance to aflord reasonable that is no way to establish a context. More important, NBC has long op­ standing of controversial issues. As a opportunity in his over-all programing That context was establish~ early on posed . the fairness doctrine on the result, he must, at the very least, make for the presentation of contrasting with .such .comments -as; "the. ground that it gives, the Government sure that all sides of controversial i pen~on, views. ' s ste . essenti · ns <1, unconstitutional power o~r _the ~n­ issues are presented if any side is pre­ Anyone claiming a broadcast viola­ ~ll~ahoax .. ." tent ~~ and p.l!blic aff ai~o­ sented. tion of the fairness doctrine must indi­ In aadition:-Am, which generally frilming. The electronic press, it is "This is not to suggest thalt the catethe specific "controv:ersial issue" takes a politically conservative stance, ilrgUea, must ~st broadcaster should lose his voice as involved, the basis for the claim that pointed out that the airing of the pro­ Amendment rights e ' ess. the strong advocate of positions whic/;l the issue is controversial, and "reason­ gram closely coincided with pension­ e core of the cop.troversy, he believes are in the public interest. able ground" ror the ' claim that the reform proposals submitted by the Sen­ and involves immensely compli­ It does 'mean that h~re hi~ network or station has aired only one ate Labor Committee, and that in fact cated questions. With an increasing facility in such a way that he adds to side of the issue. members of the committee figured majorityr. of people relying on television the debate, rather than shl:ltting it off.i' ~BC's eventual answer to AIM, prominently in the documentary. Ob­ as their "primary" source of ·news, is a The association decid~d not to signed, by Harold Queen, a corporate serving that the reform proPo.sals were network news program, beamed over recommend adoption of the "majority" officer, maintained that the documen­ opposed by, among others, some labor airwaves that at least technically be­ report because it did not "reflect the tary did not attempt to discuss what unions and the National Association of long to the people, equivalent to a news­ unanimous view of the committee." percentage of persons do or do not Manufacturers, AIM argued that the paper, even fe: major_~-:per? Ifci'w And the debate, no doubt, is to be con­ receive pensions, or what total benefits subject of pensions therefore consti- much unlimi ed power s ou be placed tinued, possibly for many more years. allabafna §-if?:'sr~ ~ '\~D Ethics and the 11~\~6ID ' .\ - l- J 1- ,s t- ;- d J Public Interest t t OVERNOR George C. money sources and to seek 1 G Wallace called the bill approval from an ethics 1 "one of the strongest in the commission, the suit argued, nation" when he signed a we r e unconstitutional. By measure from the Alabama implication, so was the law's legislature requiring disclo­ provision that newsmen who sure of financial resources failed to comply would be by public officials. barred fro~ covering the Passed during the last legislature "or state govern­ hours of the 1973 session, the ment in any way." bill had been framed as an ethics law; but the charac­ ter of the bill in its originat­ Other states had ing chamber - the State or Senate - had changed after passed would it reached the House. pass similar laws , In ' addition 'to ; p,ubllc fig­ , ures, n,e W s,m,e n were re­ In the interests of reduc­ quired by the new law to list ing government secrecy and their sources of income and conflict of interest, a num­ to seek accreditation by an ber of other states had e t h i c s commission before passed or were considering they could practice their passage of a" law requiring .

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